Nucaf Beatrice bagged the Runners Up trophy in the recently concluded 10th Indian Basketball League, one of the most prestigious tournaments in UAE, organized by the Indian Basketball Society. The inclusion of new members like Aaron Fernes, Ishan Shoukath, Ahraz Asad, Satyajit Kulkarni and Hanan Nisar provided the much needed youth and energy to our experienced line up and the change was evident in the performance.

Nucaf Beatrice @ IBS League 2015

The campaign started with a close loss to Knights and an even closer loss to Hoopers. But we came back strong into the competition with a 25 points victory over Blue Bells and a thumping 9 points win over the much stronger City Fives. With this we stormed into the semi final to set up a clash with 7 time champions All Stars. In what turned out to be the most thrilling match of the tournament, we dethroned All Stars in an emphatic manner. The entire stadium was in shock when the final whistle was blown. In the final, our boys started slowly which helped Knights to get a comfortable lead in the first quarter and concentrate more on defense later. Though we came up with better plays and better scoring in the last quarter, we could only bring the score closer and not effect a win. Aaron, with his unbelievable dribbling skills, made inroads through the opponents’ defense at will throughout the tournament. Ishan, with his unmatched ball handling and excellent assists and Ahraz with his fearless drive ins, captured the hearts of all basketball lovers. Shijas proved his worth in crucial moments. Anil Tom, Shabeer and Satya provided strong defense while Zaheer and Hanan were good in long range shooting.

Young Guns of Nucaf Beatrice @IBS League 2015

Aaron Fernes was awarded the Top Scorer of the tournament and Ishan Shoukath was the Most Promising Player of the tournament. The team:Joseph Thomas, Siddique Oliyath, Zaheer Abbas, Prince Paul, Shabeer, Anil Tom, Mohammed Shijas, Javad, Muzammil, Aaron Fernes, Ishan Shoukath, Ahraz Asad, Hanan Nisar and Satyajit Kulkarni. The coach was Abraham Cheeran and the manager Joepaul.